Already His (The Caversham Chronicles - Book Two)

by Sandy Raven

  “I know you wouldn’t leave with him willingly. The guard saw Marlowe carry you and deposit you in the coach. We knew then you had to be drugged or unconscious in some way.”

  She exhaled and closed her eyes as tears began to silently fall. Elise turned away from him and curled into a ball. He spooned with her while the great racking sobs shook her body, and all he could do was hold her as she whimpered softly before she fell back asleep.

  Sometime later in the afternoon, Michael awakened again, to a soft knock on the door. When he opened it, Elise’s maid, Bridget, and a footman from Caversham House arrived bearing fresh clothing for both of them. The usually dour-faced young woman’s brow was creased with worry as she entered the room, took a look at the curled-up form of her lady asleep on the bed, set the clothing down and crossed the room to her mistress’ side.

  “Lord Huddleston thought you might need these. Since James was coming with yer clothes and the coach to bring ye home, no one was going to keep me from seeing to my lady.” She sat on the bed next to Elise and stroked her brow, getting no response. With Elise’s unresponsiveness and seeing the cut and bruising on her face, and the mark on her neck, the maid looked at Michael with concern.

  “She woke for a moment earlier this morning—only long enough to tell me that she did not willingly leave the ball—then fell back asleep.

  “Of course she wouldn’t leave the ball with a strange man. She wouldn’t leave with you and she loves you.” Unafraid of him, the maid straightened her shoulders and came to stand directly in front of Michael. She met his gaze with a cold stare. “Whatever you said to upset my lady you’d better make your apologies. I haven’t seen her so sad ever as she has been this past week. So whatever you did, make it right, milord. My lady is good-hearted and don’t deserve the pain you put her through.”

  He knew he should call the red-headed maid on her behavior, but Michael knew he deserved no less than everything she’d said. He cleared his throat of the knot forming just above his breast. “If she will have me, I will spend the rest of my life making up for my words and actions. I swear it.”

  Feeling relieved to have the maid here, Michael nodded. “I will leave her in your capable hands then. I will take a room of my own close by. Do you require anything from the innkeep?”

  The maid stroked Elise’s brow. “Fresh bedding,” she said, looking at the mud he’d left on the other side of Elise, “plenty of clean towels and hot water. I brought everythin’ else.”

  He lifted the bundle of his clothing. “I will have it sent up immediately,” he said, glancing once more over at Elise. “Thank you. For... coming.”

  Later bathed and dressed, he went below into the public room to wait for the maid to send word that Elise was awake. While Michael waited on his dinner he pulled apart a piece of hard bread, and as he prepared to take a bite he saw Ren stride across the threshold of the building. The look on his face was one of deadly intent. Michael lifted his hand and motioned for him to come over and take a seat.

  “How is she?” Ren asked, taking a chair. “Where is she?”

  “She is fine, upstairs with her maid, who arrived a couple of hours ago with a footman from Caversham House. But Elise is not awake yet. Her maid is determining the extent of her injuries now” Michael watched his friend scan the room. “There is no one that I recognize either on the register, or that I’ve seen. The innkeep and his wife have been sworn to silence on the matter, after I informed them there will be a trial for the accomplice.”

  Ren sat back in one of the wooden chairs at his table. The thing looked like it belonged more to a little girl’s tea service than a seat for two grown men. Their gazes met, and Michael knew what he would ask next.

  “Tell me how you killed the bastard,” Ren said flatly.

  Michael pat his breast, where his pistol rested inside his coat.

  “And Marlowe?”

  Michael took a deep breath and became the attorney again. He did so because it allowed him to forget his guilt and pain. “Marlowe left in the custody of Cartland and his agent that followed the coach from London.”

  “Why is she not awake?”

  His voice cracked with emotion as his feeble attempts at detachment were useless. Through his emotion, Michael explained everything that occurred the night before. And when he was done, finished the remaining ale in his mug and stood.

  “I want to see her,” Ren said.

  Michael motioned to the innkeep’s wife, asking her to check on Elise. “Let’s see if that bulldog of a maid she has will let us near her.”

  The woman returned with a message to give the maids upstairs a few more minutes to finish their tasks, then they could go up.

  “The drug is wearing off,” Michael said as they climbed the steps to the second level. “Elise knew who I was for just a moment when she opened her eyes, but she closed them again after telling me she didn’t go with them willingly.” He paused in front of the door to her room and knocked softly. Looking at Ren, he added, “She’s been asleep since.”

  Elise’s maid opened the door and let the men enter. She bobbed a quick curtsy, and Michael watched as Ren went to the bed and stood near the foot. Tears welled in Michael’s eyes when he saw them in his friend’s. His sister’s condition, the bruising on her face and neck which had become more colorful as the day progressed caused both men upset and anger.

  “I should have stayed in Town,” his friend said, his voice a choked whisper. “I would have been there. I should have ordered more guards on her.”

  “You were with your wife, who needed you as well. You cannot be everywhere.” He shook his head and swallowed past the lump in his throat. “No. It was my duty to protect her, and—” He met his friend’s gaze for a moment because of the shame he felt. “I failed. I failed, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to her, if she will let me.”

  Ren went to her side, and stroked his little sister’s head and whispered reassuring words to her. Her eyelids fluttered open momentarily then closed again.

  “’Lise? I’m here, Michael’s here, your maid’s here. If you want to go home, I can bring you.”

  Michael watched her eyes flutter open, but they didn’t seem to focus on anyone. She closed them again and began to move her lips but no words came. He moved closer to the bed, wanting her to speak to him. He had to hear her voice. Wanted to hear her argue with him.

  “Thirsty,” she said, her voice soft and raspy. Her maid brought her a glass of water. After she drank from it, she smiled. She opened her eyes again, and looked straight at him, and said, “Gun shot,” she took another sip from her glass. “Michael... did you... kill him?”

  “Yes, minx. Sinclair is dead.”

  She nodded her head. “Good. Marlowe?”

  “He is in custody, and will be charged with kidnapping and assault upon a noblewoman. If I have my way, he will never see the light of day again.”

  The look on her face was more relaxed now that she recognized he and Ren were there. “I’m tired,” she said, closing her eyes again.

  “Go ahead and rest darling. Ren and I will be below.”

  Back in the public taproom, Michael and Ren tried to plan how best to quell rumor and protect Elise.

  “When I left I thought all was well between you, and that an autumn wedding was imminent.” Ren swigged the dark ale from his mug. “Then I learn from Grandmother and Lia that there was a growing disaffection between you. Before I plan her future, I need to know what your plans are regarding Elise. Is there still an agreement between you?”

  “She will tell you no,” Michael said, “but we will marry as soon as I can secure a special license.”

  “Why does she not wish to marry you now, after all these years?”

  “Because I was an ass.” How many times over the last twenty-four hours had he told himself just that. He was an ass with regard to how he treated her. Michael had to apologize profusely and beg for Elise’s forgiveness if he stood any chance at happiness in t
his life. “Elise will marry me. Because she still loves me.” Michael thought if he told himself this over and over enough it would make it true. “And I... I cannot live without her.”

  “You’re sure of this? Because I promised her I would never force her to marry someone she didn’t love.”

  “She’ll agree, once I apologize and beg forgiveness.”

  “See that you do then,” Ren stood and made for the door, then added, “for I love my sister and she has loved you for years.”

  If His Grace, the Duke of Caversham, didn’t think his friend was the right man for Elise before, he knew now. He’d known Michael for over twenty years, and in all that time he’d never once heard his friend admit to being an ass.

  Yes, he must love Elise very much to make such a pronouncement.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Elise will not tell me why she does not wish to marry you. She is, however, wanting to return to Haldenwood immediately,” Ren said as the two of them sat in Michael’s room eating breakfast the following morning. Elise was sleeping again, though did stay awake for several hours as she ate a tiny bit from her tray and spoke with her brother, without Michael present.

  This put him a little on edge, not because he feared what she would say to Ren, but because he wanted to be with Elise when she spoke of the night of the abduction, to comfort her, to offer her his love and support. She obviously felt the need to speak to her brother without him. Since Ren didn’t come out of her room requesting pistols at dawn, he felt safe she was keeping that part of the story private.

  “I told her we could leave as soon as she was ready,” Ren said. “Her maid will come with us, and you and the footman can return to Town on horseback.”

  Michael listened to his friend as he ate the meager fare the inkeep called breakfast. The hard bread, cold eggs, rasher of bacon and unrecognizable pudding would have tasted better hot, he was sure, but by the time it reached them upstairs, the plate with the bacon had congealing grease around the edges. He was so hungry, he pushed the grease aside and dove into the stuff, washing it down with the pitcher of watered down ale the maid brought with it. When he was done with the bland fare, he pushed the tray aside, and began to pace the small room he and Ren shared the night before.

  “She will marry me as soon as possible,” Michael said, “so that no one besmirches her character, or worse, because of what happened the other night. Even though we did everything in our power to staunch any gossip while we were at Whippleworth’s, if her name comes out in Marlowe’s trial, she will be ostracized. You know that is the way some in society behave.”

  His friend nodded. “It will be good for her to go home for a while and let the bruises heal. Too, Lia can talk with her and try to help with this as well. But....” Ren appeared to ponder something serious. “Michael, is that the only reason you want to marry her? Because of gossip, or her reputation? Because if that’s the case—”

  “No,” he quickly interjected. “I’m marrying her because I care for her deeply. I do.” Michael went to the rooms only window, and stared out to the stable yard below. “I will be at Haldenwood in a week with a special license. It might take a few days longer for my mother and sisters.”

  “If she refuses, I will not force her.”

  “She won’t refuse me,” Michael said confidently, all the while praying he was right. Because he didn’t know what he’d do if she truly would not marry him.

  Of course, he did still have the threat card, but knew that was not the way to start off his marriage. He smiled. Elise would cut his heart out if he tried that.

  “I will not allow Michael to sacrifice himself to save my reputation,” Elise told her brother when she met with him on the afternoon after their return to Haldenwood. “And that is what he’d be doing. You know I am right.”

  “He wants to marry you, Elise,” her brother said as he placed his elbows on the desk surface and began to rub his temples. “He cares for you deeply, he’s told me so.”

  “Caring is not the same as loving. He doesn’t love me as you love Lia.” Elise felt tears threaten to spill over again and she hated it. “How long will it be before he resents his decision? When he realizes he could have made a better match?” She saw Ren’s jaw twitch and knew he fought his rising frustration with her.

  “That will not happen with Michael. I know him. Once he makes a vow of commitment, he will honor it.”

  She was tired of discussing this. “He might honor it, but he will not be happy. And I’ll not do that to him. I’ve already put him through enough over the years. He deserves happiness.”

  It made Elise sick to think that had she not been abducted he would never have offered to marry her. Michael was only doing this out of his devotion to her brother. And she was doing what she was doing for the same reason.

  Now it seemed she would have to tell Michael this in order for him to recant on this plan to make himself a martyr because he felt guilt over the other night’s events. The nerve of him.

  “Is it because of this... argument you had. Can it not be worked out?”

  Elise shook her head.

  “What is it you wish to do if not marry?”

  Her brother’s tone was taught, as though he were conducting an uncomfortable interview. Elise felt his voice was cool, and not his normal grumbly ogre self. She wondered why he was being so solicitous after what she’d just had happen. “I want to live the quiet life of an eccentric aunt to my nephew, and hopefully a new niece. To that end, I’ve decided I would like to live in mother’s dower house. It’s a beautiful place, and I can see being happy there.”

  “It’s yours, so you may certainly live there. With a proper companion, of course.” Her brother drummed his fingers on the desktop, not because he was thinking, but because he was restraining his upset for her sake. “We would have to give the tenants notice. It could be... six months to a year before you were able to move. “

  “I expected as much. Thank you, brother,” she said as she fought down a painful lump in her throat that threatened to bring up tears. But she wouldn’t cry again. The past was over and done with, and the future lie ahead.

  “Are you sure you are well? I wish you would let me call in Prescott.”

  She nodded. “The bruises are fading, and this....” She fingered the cut on her cheek. “This is healing nicely. The good doctor would not be able to do anything for me, except perhaps give me laudanum. And I’ve never been fond of that stuff as it tastes horrible.”

  “As you wish.”

  Eight days after parting ways with Elise and Ren at the inn, Michael took the seat across from his friend in the ducal office at Haldenwood. “Were you able to convince her then?”

  Ren shook his head. “We have had two discussions, and she has remained adamant. She thinks you would be sacrificing yourself for her honor, and said you deserve better. She thinks to live in our mother’s dower house and become an eccentric spinster.

  Michael laughed, for the first time in days. Elise had too much passion to closet herself away from the world the rest of her life. “She’s already eccentric. It’s one of the many things I love about her. And, if I have my way, she’ll not become a spinster.”

  “Don’t press her, Michael. Give her time. She’ll come around eventually. Especially with Beverly here with her.”

  “I don’t want to wait.”

  “I don’t understand,” his friend said. “Why the rush to marry?”

  Michael turned away and stared into the glowing remnants of logs in the hearth. He didn’t want to tell his friend there was a chance, even through it had only been once, that his sister might be with child.

  “Michael, Lia asked Elise if she felt as though Sinclair might have....” Ren cleared his throat, the topic uncomfortable for them both. “Abused her....”

  “Stop.” He lifted his hand, stopping his friend before Ren spoke further. “I don’t care.” Once the realization came to him that this feeling he had was more than just need or want, more
even than desire—because it was all that and so very much more—that’s when Michael felt the words rushing from his mouth as never before. “I... I love her.”

  “Then you have some groveling to do,” Ren said, shaking his head in confusion. “Because I sense that’s what she’s wanting from you.”

  He could only nod. He planned to find her and apologize. Michael had to start making amends right now. If she truly needed time to get over the trauma of the abduction, he’d give her all the time she needed—after they were wed.

  Elise dismissed Bridget after the maids finished carrying in the hot water. Alone in her bathing chamber, she dropped her robe and stared into the pier glass. She was thankful that the bruises on her face and neck were fading quickly, though her breasts were still tender. She wished she knew what that heathen had done to her, how she received the cut and bruise on her cheek, what he’d done to her breasts to make them so very sore. If only she could remember all that happened that night over a week ago. But try as she might she could not. Both Grandmother and Lia thought it was a good thing she didn’t remember, then it wouldn’t interfere with her finding pleasure with a husband later they told her, should she marry one day.

  She remembered the night she met Sinclair, how his touch made her skin crawl. Had she trusted that instinct a little more none of this would have occurred. Thinking back on those few encounters with him, Sinclair never gave any clues of his true nature. He had been quiet and introspective at times, but she didn’t think.... She even remembered telling her grandmother once she thought him harmless.

  “Ha! Harmless,” she said to the empty room.

  As she sunk deeper into the big brass tub, she relished the feel of the hot water as it relaxed her sore muscles. Evidently in her unconscious state, she must have fought him because the muscles in her arms and legs still ached.

  She wished she could turn back the hands of the clock and undo all that had occurred. But who could have known that Marlowe would do something so dastardly as to lace her drink with a sleeping drought, then hand her over to Sinclair? Why did he do such a thing? What had she ever done to him, to either of them, that they would do this to her?